Improvement in grain-doors for railway cars



MILES H. CARD & LEVI SAFFOD.

Improvement in Grain Donrs for Railway Cars..

N0. 118,339. y L Patented Aug. 22, I87II..

Figui UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

MILES H. CARD, OF FREEPORT, AND LEVI SAFFOD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN-DOORS FOR RAILWAY CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,339, dated August 22, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MILES H. CARD, of Freeport, county of Stevenson, and LEVI SAFEOD, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Grain-Doors for Railway Cars; andwe do declare that the following is a true and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon, and being a part of this speciflcation, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of our invention from the interior ofthe car, and Fig. 2 is a front elevation from the saine point of view, showing the door opened.

Like letters of reference made use of in the several gures indicate like parts.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use our invention, ,we will proceed to describe the same with particularity, making use in so doing of the aforesaid drawing.

A represents in the drawing the side of an ordinary freight-car, suoli as are used upon railways for transporting grain. B is the iioor thereof, and C the common door-way, shown open. D represents our grain-door hinged to the floor ofthe car by one of its lower corners, as shown by the hinge D. This door is made to extend beyond or lap over the sides ofthe door-way at each side, and is of a height sufficient to retain the car-load of grain. At the free or moving end of the door and attached to the side of the car is a dovetailed guide-piece, E, of a curved shape, the curve of which is described by a radius equal to its disA tance from the hinge. A dovetailed recess or groove, F, indicated in dotted lines at Fig. 2, is cut in the outer face of the doorV D, so that when the' same is shut or turned down the guide-piece will enter the groove and hold the door securely from lateral movement or shaking, and at the same time form a tight joint and eftectually pre' vent the grain from working between the side of the car and the door, and so out of the door-way. Gr is an abutment placed at the side of the doorway nearest the hinge, and beveled at its inner side to fit an offset in the door D when closed, so as to form a similar joint upon this side ot1 the door-way. H is a stop, andJ a pin for the purpose of retaining the door in position when opened, and K is a button or detent for securing the door when closed. L is a iiap or strip of ilexible material, such as canvas, leather', rubbercloth, or similar substance secured to the bottom ofthe door and extending into the car and beyond the moving end of the door a short distance and lying upon the floor of the car. When the car is full the weight of the grain upon this ilap makes the joint between the door and the floor tight against leakage, assisted in a measure by the material immediately under the door itself acting as packing.

By our construction we are enabled to produce a grain-door which is tight against loss by leakage, and durable, dispensing entirely with the troublesome lathing and packing usually elnployed when common doors are used.

' Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

The grain-door D, provided with the flap L, curved groove or dovetailed slot F., offset g, and hinge d, lin combination with the dovetailed curved guide-piece E, abutment Cr, and detent K, all constructed and arranged substantially as described and shown, for the purposes set forth. MILES H. CARD.

LEVI SAFFOI).

Witnesses:

J. W. MUNDAY, l?. ROBERTS. 

